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1.2.2 Polarimetry of the Zodiacal Light and Milky Way from Hawaii

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

R. D. Wolstencroft
Affiliation:
Royal Observatory, Edinburgh
L. W. Bandermann
Affiliation:
Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii

Extract

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This paper describes the results of a program of observations of the polarized intensity vector of the night sky in the anti-solar hemisphere obtained on 72 nights between May 1973 and November 1974. The observations were made with the night sky polarimeter at Mt. Haleakala, Maui, Hawaii, using a 5300A interference filter, 62A wide, to define the passband. They were made at fixed altitudes from 35° to 90° along the north-south meridian and repeated in sequence throughout the night. The diameter of the field of view was 6.0° and the integration time per point was either 30 or 120 seconds. Polarization was detected using a rotating polaroid (11 1/4 revs sec−1); the signal from the polaroid drive generator provided a phase trigger allowing the photo-multiplier signal to accumulate and be digitized for each of the four 90° phase intervals of the polarization modulation cycle. This process continued for the entire integration period. The digitization and data handling and recording (paper tape and teletype) was carried out by a PDP-81 computer, and calibrated Stokes parameters (I, Q, U) and the polarized intensity pI were calculated later. Intensity calibration in S10 (V, G2V) units was obtained using a C14 low brightness source, and the amplitude and phase of the polarization modulation were checked each night.

Type
1 Zodiacal Light
Copyright
Copyright © Springer-Verlag 1976

References

Bandermann, L. W. and Wolstencroft, R. D. 1975. Mem. Royal Astr. Soc. (in press).Google Scholar
Roach, F. E. and Gordon, J. L. 1974, “The Light of the Hight Sky”, D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dortrecht-Holland.Google Scholar